THURSDAY12
Thursday12
Cola Freaks
Woods of Ypres
Alien Queen: The Concert
David Davis & the Warrior River Boys
Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs
Saturday14
Young Widows
Sunday15
James Blake
John Tchicai & the Engines
Tuesday17
Kelley Stoltz
Twilight Singers
Wednesday18
Acrassicauda
Childish Gambino
Donkeys
ALIEN QUEEN: THE CONCERT Jaded with classic-rock laser light shows? Tired of tribute bands? The Scooty & JoJo Show’s Alien Queen might appear to be the next logical evolutionary step in the quasi-ironic appreciation of rock greats, but there’s more than that going on in this crazily slapstick take on the first two Alien movies—which, in case the name didn’t clue you in, is performed as a musical consisting of songs by Queen. Though it seems like nothing more than a late-night stoner joke played out to an absurdly elaborate and expensive conclusion, it makes statements about sex and gender I won’t even begin to unpack—I think the concept of the “wet nightmare” might come into it somewhere. The company first inflicted the vision of creator and director Scott Bradley on the world this past winter in a successful run at Circuit Nightclub, and now the band and cast from that run—led by Ryan Lanning, who plays Ridley, aka Ripley in the movies, a role originally intended for a male—will reconvene at Metro. They’re joined by some truly terrifying puppets and really brilliant costumes that bring H.R. Giger’s alien designs to shimmying, ridiculously sexual life (that’s Bradley in the Alien Queen getup). This one-night-only revue reprise of the play will also feature some new songs—or rather classic songs the first version didn’t use. —Monica Kendrick Brilliant Pebbles, Mystery Key, and DJ Reaganomix open. 9 PM, Metro, $20, $16 in advance. 18+
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SUNDAY15
CHILDISH GAMBINO Donald Glover seems amiable enough; on the NBC comedy Community, he makes the charismatic character of Troy Barnes even more appealing with his down-to-earth charm. But the knowledge that he can be genuinely likable—and that he’s written for 30 Rock—just makes his foray into hip-hop as Childish Gambino all the more disappointing. He cranks out dim-witted tunes that try to sound smart by packing in an absurd number of forced or even nonsensical pop-culture references—including self-referential jokes like “NBC is not the only thing I’m coming on tonight.” The EP he self-released in March is inane and overproduced, and its lyrics are almost enough to make me ashamed to be male: if he’s not bragging about how hard he fucks women (“I’m hard in the paint like I fuck her on her period”), he’s complaining about how hard women have fucked him over (“‘You are the bestest, I will obey you’ / These words I wrote for you when you were fuckin’ other dudes”). It’s a shame, really, because Glover has a lot of magnetic cool, and he’s confident enough on the mike to make the EP’s standout tune, “Freaks and Geeks,” at least listenable. I don’t expect the rapping to be the high point of Glover’s performance here—fortunately, he’s also doing stand-up and showing videos of his sketch comedy. —Leor Galil 8:30 PM, Park West, sold out. 18+
